Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

7 5 t h Internatio n a l S ix D a y Enduro (Belowl He's not getting any younger, but Fred Hoe55, shown here pushing his 125cc Husqvarna up a hill, still has what i t takes to be competitive on the American Trophy team. Hoess finished on gold, in 28th place. (Rightl Though it's true that the ISDE is now won and lost in the special t e sts, the Spanish trail did offer the occasional challenge. Here, Japanese female rid er Yuki Tanaka d id whatever it took to get her b ike over the top, even If i t meant she herself stayed behind. His t imes we re still good , leaving him 15th or so in class. OWing to good te s ts b y th e Po rtugue se te a m , the USA Trophy Tea m dro p ped down a p lace to 12th , a nd the J unio r Trophy remain ed in 16 th . O A Y3 In international action, the indestructible Finns, winne rs of the last two Six Day Tro phy Tea m competitions, s ud denly foun d themselves ou t be gg ing . After losing a tea m rider on the first da y to serious injury , they ha d no roo m for m ista kes. The y finis hed day one lead ing the Trophy co m petition, but shortl y after the start of da y two , 125cc flas h Pette ri S ilvan blew his Husq varn a up in a s pe c ia l t e s t a n d p a rke d it. Th is moved the Italians up to the first pos ition in the Trophy Te am com petition, followed by Spa in a nd Sweden, Aust ra lia n Stefan Merr im an wa s in firm co m m a nd o f the overall lead , rid ing a 400c c Hu sqvarn a with the k in d o f sk ill a nd p recision t ha t left p eopl e s tari ng , o pe n -mo ut he d. He won the Enduro Wo rld Cha m pio ns h ip this yea r, a nd ha s been he a vily d is cussed fo r the past two years , b ut seeing it in pe rs o n is awe-insp iring . He rides the grass-track tests e xt reme ly we ll , and has amazing accuracy and focus, never - e ve r b lowing turns, Every line he ta kes is th e right line , and he never appears to be out of control. It is jus t amazing to watc h, like th e firs t tim e seei ng Giovanni Sa la o r Sha ne Watts . By t his d a y in th e com petition , it wa s b e c o m in g p la in t h at t h e Spa niards had laid out a n almost pe rfect fo ur-stroke cours e , whe th er they ha d planned it that way or not. Merri- "There is no doubt in my mind that the final moto was sabotaged: sa id USA Trophy Team manager Drew Smith of the called-off day-six test. "The [home] Spanish Trophy team had nowhere to go but backward. By throwing out a bunch of tests during the week, the Spanish organizers were able to manipulate the team into a podium position...1understand that the Italians protested the day before that the final motocross test had to be watered, which the Spanish organizers refused to do. When we got out there Sunday, they had a single water truck that they eventually ran around the course in a show that they were trying to do the right thing. Then when Merriman [of the Australian team, which threatened to knock Spain off the podium] ap peared at the front of the pack in that 400cc moto, they black-flagged the race. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, man, it's a duck: Smith wasn't the only person in attendance with that feeling, but once the decision was made to cancel the day "in the interest of safety: the deed was done. "Hey, I don't want to be accused of sour grapes: Smith continued. "Our team had nothing to gain either way, really. It's just a question of what's right. We need some strong leadership at the Six Days to do the right thing. Those guys are out there to win or die. Russ Pearson had a bad , bad crash in a race that didn't matter. He could have come away from that with a crippling injury - all those guys, Merriman, Sala, Ahola - they're risking broken m an was in control, but be hind him in th e overa ll we re fou r more four -strok e pilo ts , a nd they wer e beating the be st rid e rs in th e world . Th e y were d is pla ci ng Mika Ahola , S a la , Watts a nd Paul Edmonds on to na m e just a few, and fo rcing them wa y dow n in th e re su lts . Be h in d Merriman were And e rs E rik sso n , t he ve teran Hus aber g rider from th e Swedish Tro ph y Team , rid ing a 400 , Ka ri Tia ine n of Finla nd on a +50 0, Da vid Fretigne o f Fra nce on a 400 , and Bjorne Carlson o f S weden , a lso on a +5 0 0 . Be h ind th em wa s Mika Ah o la , last ye a r 's IS DE o ve ra ll winn er , sc ra m b lin g to keep th em in s ight and now 17 s ec onds beh ind Merrim an in ove rall time . Mak ing t he d ifferen c e t his year were the length a nd speed of the spe c ial te sts. Most of th e grass tracks were long , wide , and very fast, perfect for getting a b ig four-stroke up into fifth or sixth gear and just wring ing it out. The two-strokes we re s im ply running ou t of top speed ; if you could hold o n, yo u could get a much be tte r tim e on a tall -g eared , to rquey fo ur -s t ro ke , and t hat' s ex actly wh a t th e y wer e doi ng . Th e tests wer e helping the Ga rra han bro thers , with Bria n, in th e 400cc cl a s s , pull ing th e be s t times , be ing o nly a bo ut 10 seconds off Merr im an's time and finis hing most te sts between 10th a nd 15th in cl a s s , finis hing the da y 13 th in cla s s. Pa tri c k , rid ing in th e +50 0 cla ss , wa s a ha ndfu l of sec: onds behi nd his brother 's times , but he s t ill finis h ed the da y 19th in the Pat Garrahan enjoys o n e of the week's rare quiet moments away from the bike . He and brother. Brian represented the U.s. on the Trophy team, bo th riding big KTM four-strokes. bones or wors e on a track where y ou can't even see your crossbar. When they were getting that moto track ready, they certainly had water availab le, and they didn't provide it: 10 NOVEMB ER 22 , 2000' cue • e .n e _ s cla ss. The Am e ric an speed demon was Russell Pe arso n , however, dr iving his Yamaha 250 to 12th in c la ss a nd finis h ing in th e top 20 in eve ry s pe cia l te s t. His best score for da y three wa s seve nth pla ce in the first cross test, a few hund redths of a second in front of Ahola , the cla ss leader. Russ wa s ta king th is all very se rio usl y, a nd was seen exa m ining som e of the tests late in the afternoon , loo king for pla ces to im p rove h is tim es. Ab bott , ano th e r des e rt racing pro , was right up there a s well, s itting in 18 th p la ce in class. Abbott did a fine job of bou nc ing ba c k from a s hoc k a bsorber tha t ha d s t a rt e d le a k ing th e d a y b ef or e a nd lo s t a ll d amp in g a s a re su lt. He retu rned a t the end of day two and quickly p ulled the shock a nd changed his re ar tire , a nd impounded the bike in piece s . Trophy T e a m manager Dre w S m ith , who owns th e suspensio n co mpany Work s Endu ro Rider a nd had the foresight to pa c k a selecti o n of popu lar s hock p arts ju s t in c a s e, re built th e s hock o ve rnight a nd re -pressure d it with he lp fro m Te a m Ita ly's n itrogen bottle . "T h e shock is wo r k in g gr e at , " Abbott reported late r. "My only trou ble is m y fro nt tire. I've bee n ha ving all these nagg ing litt le prob le ms, and I haven 't had a c h a nc e to c ha nge it ye t. It' s just about ba ld!" Hawkins was still going stron g :.: t he 400cc class , s itt in g wi t h 21 st pl a c e a n d a gold med a l, an d F re d Ho ess wa s sol d ier ing well in t h e

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